Praise for Magick & Mayhem, the first Abracadabra mystery “Magic, Merlin, and murder are a great mix for this fun debut cozy.” —Lynn Cahoon, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author “A charming, must-read mystery with enchanting characters.”—Rose Pressey, USA Today bestselling author “Spellbinding, with magical prose, a wizardly plot, and a charming sleuth.” —Janet Bolin, Agatha-nominated author of the national bestselling Threadville mysteries This spells trouble . . . The New Camel Day Fair is a fun-filled event for residents of this upstate New York town. Kailyn Wilde, a modern-day witch of ancient lineage, leaves her potion shop, Abracadabra—and her feline familiar, Sashkatu—to attend with her fortune-telling Aunt Tilly. Joining them is legendary wizard Merlin, who’s discovering new pleasures of time-traveling to the modern world, including curly fries and kettle corn—but the appeal of the Tilt-a-Wheel is beyond his mystical imagination. The real wild ride begins later, when neighboring sweet shop owner Lolly rushes into Abracadabra with news about a dead body. The victim has one of Lolly’s fudge knives stuck in her back, but in spite of the sticky evidence, Lolly is only one of several suspects with ample motive and opportunity. Meanwhile, Merlin’s research into old family scrolls and electromagnetic ley lines is causing some unusual mix-ups. As the two investigations collide, Kailyn will have to do everything in her power to prevent disaster... “Pape has a sure handed balance of humor and action.”—Julie Hyzy, New York Times bestselling author Magickal Mystery Lore An Abracadabra Mystery By Sharon Pape KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP. Copyright © 2019 Sharon Pape All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-5161-0873-2 CHAPTER 1 "That infernal machine is naught but an instrument of torture," Merlin grumbled as he staggered toward us. "What possessed you to allow me on it?" With his long white hair that had come untethered during the ride and his rats' nest of a beard he looked more like a wino than a legendary sorcerer from the kingdom of Camelot. He stumbled over his feet and pitched forward into the frothy layers of my Aunt Tilly's lavender muumuu. "We tried to stop you," I said. "'You won't like it, Merlin,' we said. 'Don't do it, Merlin,' we said. 'Please believe us, Merlin.' Does any of that sound familiar?" "Well yes, but you must admit everyone on the ride seemed delighted." "Some people love rides like that," Tilly said. "In that case, I can refer them to a beefy chap who works in a dungeon and is quite skilled in all manner of torturous devices." Tilly held him away from her, hands on his shoulders. "Let's see if you can stand on your own without falling over." Merlin wobbled a bit before finding his equilibrium. "There," she said, letting go of him. "Are you at all queasy?" "Not in the least." "Count yourself lucky," I said, not having been as fortunate my one and only time on that ride. "I couldn't look at food for hours." "You appear to be fine," Tilly said to him. "I am not fine. The whole ordeal has left me famished," he said, as we walked away from the Tilt-a-Whirl. We were in the thick of the forty-fifth annual New Camel Day Fair, elbow to elbow with a few hundred people. Moving from one attraction to another was largely a matter of joining the stream of people heading in the direction we wanted to go. If we weren't careful, we could wind up back on the line for Merlin's nightmare ride. "You've already had three hotdogs, curly cheese fries, lemonade and two root beers," I reminded him. "And yet my stomach demands more." "Does it have a particular request?" Tilly asked dryly. "Cotton candy," he said without a moment's hesitation. "And a candy apple. I've never tasted either." There ensued a debate on the wisdom of Merlin eating the apple. A quick inspection of his mouth revealed he was missing a number of teeth and many of the remaining ones were chipped or broken. I explained that he could lose the teeth he had left with one bite into the sticky coating. Tilly suggested kettle corn instead, which proved to be a winner. Two pounds of sugar later, we headed over to the booths where New Camel's merchants displayed their wares. My family had always participated, stocking our booth with our most popular health and beauty products, and Tilly held a drawing for a free psychic reading and English tea. It was a lot easier when my mother and grandmother were alive and there were four of us to take turns manning the booth. Although Tilly and I had managed all right on our own last year, now that we had to oversee Merlin, we'd decided to forgo the booth this once. It was a difficult decision, because Abracadabra always enjoyed a nice uptick in its customer base when folks bought our products at the fair and decided they couldn't live without them. I'd already been stopped by a dozen people who were disappointed we didn't have a booth. They'd come to the fair, hopi